


Two Cents on JohnLock

by LitLocked



Category: BBC Sherlock
Genre: But basically defence of JohnLock against haters, M/M, Meta of sorts, non-fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-01
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2018-01-14 05:15:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1254211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LitLocked/pseuds/LitLocked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why JohnLock hate bothers me so much.<br/>While other ships might be valid in a fannish way (you can write convincing fanfiction about ANY ship & make it sound valid), JohnLock stands on the basis of canonical evidence.<br/>Also, a bit of context might help. I wrote this not to attack non-Johnlockers or to deny the validity of their ships, but in response to a lot of JohnLock hate that I'm reading. People say things like "shipping would ruin the friendship", "teenage girls are reading things that aren't there", "all shippers are deluded", "john is married and therefore straight", "sherlock fell for Irene and is therefore straight"...reductions that prompted this knee-jerk reaction. So all or any ship-bashing is entirely unintentional; I'm merely drawing a contrast between the undeniable (for me anyway) intensity that JohnLock share, an intensity that other purported ships (again, for me) don't match. I'm NOT saying other ships are invalid, merely trying to get JohnLock bashers to see how this is a very real ship, and (to my mind) incomparable. And yes, most of the bashers I've seen cannot get their heads around the idea that two men can fall in love, so there'll be some homophobia-bashing too.<br/>You've been warned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Cents on JohnLock

Something in me  _wants_  JohnLock to happen,  _needs_  it to happen. I wish I understood my own politics, rationalizations and justifications to why I so desperately want them to happen. But something in me also tells me it won't happen despite such blatant subtext and deliberate portrayal of every other relationship such that it fades before theirs, because heteronormativity rules. Either pining!Sherlock would continue being alone, or he would keep rejecting women and continue in a bromance with John (how I hate that term). There are people who appreciate the subtext at a parodic level (all okay as long as the gayness is funny HAHAHAHA), but the moment fans begin talking seriously about the two of them being in love, they start getting called deluded as though the two leads being bisexual and in love could be the worst thing that could ever happen to the show. All of this troubles me no end, in fact I got so tired of the shipping wars that I considered quitting Tumblr.

Am I being blinded by my shipper eyes (I refuse to call them goggles; they're too intrinsic to me now), and in the process sexualizing a beautiful platonic deep friendship? Is there a serious dearth of such friendships in popular media? Is there an even more serious dearth of gay couples whose personality isn't confined to their sexuality? Does not wanting them to end up with female characters amount to misogyny? Since when did we start measuring female characters' worth by their ability to end up with one of the protagonists? What would the outcome mean politically? Would I be justified in being massively disappointed should Johnlock not become canon? Would it be an instance of long-drawn queerbaiting, and ultimately hurtful? Can't two guys get physically affectionate without being attracted? Is it my limited understanding of what constitutes affection, attraction, mutual regard that's affecting how I view the show? Am I reading too much into the subtext? Are MoffTiss just playing around with the subtext, without any serious intention of letting it culminate in something? Is it so wrong if it doesn’t?

As I struggle with these questions, I can only offer where my JohnLock passion is coming from. It stems from rewatching the show a gazillion times, like so many other fans. From reading meta analysis by fans who have literally paused every frame and deduced the life out of it. From having my heart ripped out by fanfics that are entirely in-character, and breathtakingly loyal to the show. From rereading those fanfics and reliving scenes from them. Scenes that have made me curl up in a corner and want to either a) cry muffled tears of angst or b) die of sheer envy at the bond these two men share. From reading explicit porny fanfics, where even the most explicit ones leave me with a sense of longing because no matter how closely entwined these two get, nothing would ever capture their intimacy perfectly. They would never be close enough, or simply enough for each other. From finding out that Holmes/Watson is part of a literary tradition that has always involved subtextual readings.

In fact, I’d argue that labels fail to capture what these two mean to each other. Their relationship defies categorization, the way fluids cannot be contained. Any and every shape they acquire is necessitated by context, but their essential nature remains transcendent, free, and always elusive. Trying to box them into labels is as unfair as denying that they can fit into any given label at any point, because that would be an injustice to their flexibility. So words cannot define what they mean to each other yes, but words are all we have, so might as well go looking for the right ones. At least don’t deny them a given label when everything about them screams its presence. Romance, far from ‘ruining’ their relationship, adds another entirely lovely dimension to it. Of course they are much more than friends, much more than lovers, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t or can’t be either of them.

It’s not a creation of my horny fangirl mind who gets off at the thought of these two banging each other (though that could be a lovely side benefit). It’s not an agenda the social justice screamer or queer-sensitive person in me is trying to push. No, I have law school to enable all my angry justice ranting. It’s not about representation or identity or labels. Not entirely, and not at first blush, anyway.

No, it’s about the love, about the intimacy, about the sheer joy of being in each other’s presence. About needing each other so much that absence hurts like a festering wound reopened. About trying to move on, trying out other people but failing every single time because both of them are too much for each other.  About being as willing to risk their own lives as killing others to keep each other safe. About no-holds barred, utter, undying devotion from the first to the last. About where the narrative so blatantly wants us to focus.

Meanwhile, we can think about what message this queerbaiting (if that’s what we’re calling the playful-subtext-that-will-actually-lead-nowhere) is sending out to queer people. Is it telling them that even bland, fireless straight relationships are preferable to intense same-sex ones? Would it be something revolutionary in terms of queer representation, and worth believing in for that potential alone? Something to ponder about. And something I certainly spend a huge chunk of my time worrying about.

The question of identity, representation and labels arises because their love is at risk of being shamed, or worse, denied solely for what it is. And that would not have happened had both of them not been men. In fact, had they been a heterosexual pair a la  _Castle_ , endless poems and sonnets would’ve been written about their undeniable love for each other. They are still written, mind you, it’s just that we call it fanfiction.

So when people say something like “but he’s married!” or “but he’s asexual!” or “but what about Molly! Irene! Janine!” it annoys me no end. You cannot honestly believe that Sherlock/Molly or Sherlock/Irene or Sherlock/Janine or John/Mary share a love that’s more intense than JohnLock, going by what the show has depicted so far. Hell, forget more intense, none of these pairings have even a zillionth of the chemistry or mutual regard that these two have even as friends. I’m not trying to hate on other shippers, merely trying to understand how ignoring Johnlock with all its textual and subtextual evidence actually happens. As in, what leaps of creativity and imagination does it take to make, say, Sherlock/Molly or John/Mary sound more convincing than JohnLock (again, strictly going by canon). Is part of it due to heteronormativity? Because heterosexuality has been ingrained in all of our psyches as _the_ correct orientation. Or is it an attempt to compensate for the lack of female protagonists on the show? Wouldn't femmelock fiction be a better way of handling that rather than just shipping the male characters with female ones? i don't know, just thinking out loud.

Also, I wouldn't have mentioned other ships in this context at all, but felt the need to because their existence is used as a reason to dismiss JohnLock as non-existent. Overlapping ships are possible, but when people start reading their ships as exclusive and thereby deny JohnLock, I feel the need to rise up in defence. Let me walk you through their alternative pairings, as depicted on the show:

 _Sherlock/Molly:_  Fine, he went to her when he needed her, confided in her and thanked her for all her help. She has a crush on him (who wouldn’t), but that cannot be read as a potential relationship (or worse, OTP a la SherlOlly). Even the name of the ship isn’t as ludicrous as its sailability. In fact, instead of asking JohnLock shippers to take off slash goggles and see it as ‘just friendship’, I’d advise SherlOlly shippers to see it as ‘just friendship’, where he’s willing to be vulnerable and trust (and be slapped by) a friend, who just happens to be female and have a crush on him. OTPs are born out of chemistry and dedication. This one, I’m afraid, is too one-sided to be that. Also, if the show wanted us to think that this is what they're leading towards, they would probably have given us more than a fantasy kiss (which some Sherlolly shippers cite as _evidence_ ) and Sherlock calling Molly by John's name when he takes her to the crime scene. So: Friendship, yes. OTP? Hell no.

 _Sherlock/Irene:_  Fascinating chemistry, yes. Irene remains the one Woman who twigged Sherlock’s libido (if you want to be that mundane about it). There was mutual fascination there, the thrill of the chase (much the same way he feels about Moriarty: an interesting puzzle). So while I’m perfectly willing to accept his encounter with Irene as one where he discovers the sexuality he has so forcefully repressed, the OTP potential here too is slim. It would be too manipulative on both sides, both would have their guard up, and neither would trust the other. Not the kind of person you’d want a committed relationship with.  Also, his attraction to Irene does NOT rule out the possibility of him being in love with John (people can be bisexual, just saying).Mutual admiration? Hell yes. Fling, may be. Friendship? A messed up one, but possible considering he did save her. But OTP? No.

 _Sherlock/Janine:_ Ah. So they struck up a conversation at the wedding. And he fake-dated her. She sold steamy stories about them for revenge (all untrue, by the way). What does she keep saying to him?  _“I wish you weren’t whatever it is that you are”, “I know the kind of man you are. I’d give you a lot for John and Mary”, “I’m the only one who knows what you’re like”_ : implying she knows how emotionally unavailable he is because of John, but is willing to be friends. She respects him, and he appreciates the fact that she didn’t ridicule his deductive prowess. So Friends? Hell yes. Lovers? No. OTP? Not in this universe.

(Interestingly, Sherlock tried Molly as crime-solving partner but it didn’t work; and when Janine asked him about a vacancy, he wistfully looked at John getting married. So other people can’t replace John even professionally, forget personally).

 _John/Mary:_  I’m having a hard time containing my hate for Mary (the person, not the character. Like I love the character Bellatrix Lestrange, but I hate the person). But here’s what she is: a real psychopath who doesn’t care two hoots about the feelings of the person she claims she loves (she looks upset because she was discovered, not because she hurt John), who shoots the best friend of her husband in the chest (when she of all people  _saw_  what losing Sherlock had done to John, and that too only to preserve the lie her marriage was based on. Even if she didn’t intend to kill him, which I don’t buy anyway, grievously injuring someone who was trying to help you is not defensible in any way), continues to be remorseless when Sherlock (despite not having fully recovered and bleeding internally) tries to reconcile her with John, is unbelievably mean to John at Christmas when he finally comes to talk to her (her indignation is surpassed only by her snark)....phew I could go on and on, but we’re given ample reasons to see why John deserves better. In fact, Sherlock’s selflessless in season 3 is a direct foil to her selfishness. And if you continue shipping John/Mary, you’re basically telling me that an emotionally abusive Mary who is basically lie upon lie (John doesn’t read the A.G.R.A stick) is preferable to Sherlock who sacrifices his all (his reputation, career, freedom and life: this, from a man who had valued the work over everything else) just because the former is a woman and the latter a man, well.... Moreover, we have seen JohnLock evolve from episode 1 onwards; whereas Mary joined in season 3 and we've been  _told_  rather than  _shown_  that she and John are adorable together. Why must we make it a choice between misogyny (Tumblr, again: hating Mary=misogyny) and accepting a relationship with a character whose actions I find despicable just because I want to see three-dimensional women on the show?

This bit is for homophobes only (ie those who think that JohnLock cannot happen _because_ they’re both men): instead of telling me to take off my shipper goggles, maybe it’s time you wiped the heterosexism/heteronormativity/homophobia that clings like a stubborn film to your very eyeballs. Two men CAN love each other, CAN pledge their whole lives to each other, and if you cannot or will not see the passion between these two, then at the very least don’t go around shaming those who are perceptive enough to see and emotional enough to feel. 

May be in an alternative universe, where John didn’t exist, an OTP involving Sherlock with someone else would’ve made sense. Similarly, only in a universe where Sherlock didn’t exist would an OTP involving John with someone else been palatable. But so long as they keep falling into one another’s orbit, they will keep getting drawn to each other like moths to the flame, and other people will just have to wait on the sidelines or get used to the fact that for them, it’s always each other before everyone else. Always. That’s how the relationship was written, in the ACD canon, and in every subsequent adaptation. Most definitely in this one.

This probably reads like a rambling post, but I felt the need to put my muddled thoughts out there. 


End file.
